Guarding Hogwarts
by Crom Cruaich
Summary: Hogwarts wasn't save. Not enough, at least, so Dumbledore sought to change that. He contacted the student of an old friend of his, and she sent him a team. Hopefully that will be enough...
1. Prologue

Things were different, this time, in the Elemental Countries.

During the Chuunin Exams of the Rookie Nine of Konoha, Kirigakure had sent one of their best Genin teams to compete.

This one consisted of Mizu Kazuki, Chimidoro Isamu and Monotachi Ryu. Mizu Kazuki was a blue haired boy, with blue eyes and an affinity to genjutsu. Chimidoro Isamu was also a boy, black haired and green eyed, he was stoic and was a taijutsu specialist. Their last teammate was Monotachi Ryu, a brown haired grey-blue eyed girl of the infamous Monotachi-clan, who were well-known for their bloodline that allowed them to manipulate liquids, which they mostly used to manipulate water in several deadly moves. Ryu was well-known for the fact that she was very lazy and laid-back, unless she was fighting.

They entered the Exams, and managed to strike up a friendship with Team Ten of Konoha, most importantly, with Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. They all reached the Finals, and during the Invasion of Konoha during those Finals they, with permission of their Kage and the help of their comrades, helped the Leaf-nin defend their home against the Sand and Sound forces. This helped the Kirigakure-Konoha relation immensely, and after the inauguration of the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, Kiri and Konoha signed an alliance.

During that time, the team of Ryu had remained in Konoha to help rebuild and as a sort of diplomats, and Ryu and Shikamaru got rather close, finding that they had many things in common.

In the following years, as they all rose in rank, Ryu and her team became a sort of diplomats between Kirigakure and Konoha, and Ryu and Shikamaru got together as a couple not long after the Chuunin Exams. Several years after the Invasion, the Alliance of Kirigakure, Konoha and Sunagakure managed to defeat and kill off Akatsuki, taking them away as a danger to the Jinchuriki and their peace. Well, sort of peace. They are shinobi after all.

It is in this version of the Elemental Countries that this story happens. So sit back and enjoy, for they would do nothing but entertain you. Unless they kill you of course, but reading this is your own choice, whether you survive it or not…


	2. Chapter 1

Tsunade sat behind her desk with a confused face, staring at the letter she had just received. It was from a man called Dumbledore, an old friend from Sandaime. Her old sensei had told his team about him a few times. That the man was a wizard, that lived in England and was one of the best men there ever was, although a bit manipulative. And in the letter she just received, he asked for help. He was willing to pay for it, a lot. He wanted a team of eight of the best shinobi she could assemble, to guard his school and help him in the war they were fighting. Tsunade sighed deeply and called a Chuunin in. It was time for Shikamaru to get working.

* * *

Shikamaru was not exactly happy when he was briefed on his next mission. Guarding a school for three years?! Not exactly his ideal dream job. So he grumbled on in his mind, clearly unhappy. He wouldn't be able to see Ryu for three years, he would actually have to work.

After a while, Tsunade decided she had had enough of him. "Nara Shikamaru. You are the leader of this mission. You have one week to assemble all the members, then another month to prepare them for the mission. Pick the best ones you can get for this one, it is important."

After those words, a slow smirk started to form on Shikamaru's face, one that made Tsunade a bit uncomfortable. Shikamaru grinned. "The best I can get you said, Tsunade-sama? Well, I have at least one in mind, but you'll have to contact Kirigakure for that."

Tsunade rubbed her temples. She just knew he was going to say that…

* * *

It was already late when Ryu and her team swept through the tower of the Mizukage on the way to his office. Other shinobi in their way quickly made way, impressed by their speed and warned by their masks. They were a squad of the elite ANBU, extremely loyal to their leader, and the elite under the shinobi.

Ryu grumbled under her dragon-mask. The seventeen year old girl and her companions/teammates since the start, Kazuki and Isamu, had been away on a long assassination mission, and had just reported in at the ANBU-headquarters when the summon from the Mizukage came. Isamu sighed at her grumbles. "Ryu-chan, could you please stop grumbling. It is killing our reputation as emotionless shinobi."

Ryu glared at him from the corner of her eyes. "Once I've had a warm bath and put on clean clothes, I'll agree with you. Now shut up, and keep moving."

Isamu glared back, then chose to keep his mouth shut. Kazuki sighed deeply. "Ryu, you are lazy, and you're not the only one who isn't happy with this. Don't forget we were on the same mission as you."

Ryu sighed deeply. "Sorry, I'm just tired and get grumpy."

The other two accepted her apologies, and sped up. As they neared the door to the office, they slowly slowed down their speed, and stopped completely right in front of the wooden doors. Kazuki threw a glance at Isamu and Ryu, then stepped forward to knock on the door.

"Enter."

As the voice gave them permission, the three ANBU entered the Mizukages office. The Mizukage looked up from the documents on his desk and smiled as he spotted the three masks. "Aah, Dragon, Horse and Badger. How good to see you have returned. I take it that the mission was a success?"

The three bowed and nodded, and the Mizukage shooed away all the other people that were in the room. He turned back to them as soon as the door closed. "Good, you can take off your masks now, Ryu, Kazuki, Isamu."

Kazuki was the first to rip off his horse-mask, followed by Isamu with his badger-mask and finally Ryu took off her dragon-mask. She frowned at the Mizukage. "Is there a reason why you called us here, Mizukage-sama? We just finished our mission and I believe we had at least two days off before the next one."

The Mizukage nodded and waved with a scroll. "That is true. But yesterday I received this request from the Hokage."

"Request?" Isamu raised one eyebrow. Although the relations between Konoha and Kirigakure were very good since the first invasion of the Sound, and their team also often pedaled between the two villages, it was still strange for one village to call in the help from an ANBU-team from an other village. The Mizukage nodded again. "Yes, a request for especially your team." He glanced at Ryu with a grin on his face. "Although that isn't too surprising."

Ryu felt a small blush coming on her cheeks and Kazuki grinned. It was a public secret under the ANBU and most of the Jounin that Ryu had a relation with a shinobi, named Nara Shikamaru, from Konoha, since the time they went there for their first entry in the Chuunin Exam.

The Mizukage talked on. "She requested for your team, Ryu, to be send to Konoha for the duration of about three years. It seems someone has requested you for some sort of guarding mission of some weird school, and the rest of your team could be useful for handling missions. So, what do you say?"

Actually, he didn't even need to ask. All three men in the room knew that Ryu would take any mission that would bring her to Konoha, and this one probably meant that she could spent three years with Shikamaru. So Isamu rolled his eyes, Kazuki inspected his nails and Ryu raised an eyebrow. "Do you really feel the need to ask about that, Mizukage-sama?"

With a grin threw the man a scroll at them, then shooed them from his office. "Good. Now get a good nights rest and pack your stuff. You're expected in Konoha in three days."

* * *

Tsunade looked up in surprise when the door to her office opened and three cloaked figures entered after one of her Chuunin. The Chuunin was obviously shaken, or at least afraid of the three, and Tsunade raised one eyebrow. Then she spotted the three masks. Dragon, Horse, Badger. Blue on white masks. Kirigakure ANBU, famous for the many assassination and how good they are at it. Kirigakure-shinobi always had already a reputation as fearsome fighters. Bloodthirsty.

But Tsunade had no reason to be afraid of these three, not only that she for a fact had called for them, but also that she had seen them often. She nodded at them as the Chuunin nervously stood next to her desk. "Dragon, Horse, Badger. Welcome to Konoha and thank you that you were willing to take this mission."

Dragon snorted and her female voice came muffled from behind her mask. "As if we wouldn't come. By Kami, why else would you have asked for our team?"

Tsunade waved the Chuunin, who was still standing next to her desk, out of the office. She them turned with a grin to the three. "That was quite right of you, Ryu. But I wasn't the one who asked for you."

"Nope. That was me." The familiar lazy drawl of Nara Shikamaru spoke from the shadows, and he stepped into the light. "Hi Ryu-chan."

The ANBU ripped off her mask and tackled the other. "Shika! It's so good to see you!" She then proceeded to hug the life out of him.

The other people in the room sweatdropped at her reaction, and Tsunade rubbed her temples. "I need sake. Okay you two, cut it out. Ryu, you are needed for a guarding mission. Isamu, Kazuki, you will be a part of the Konoha ANBU for the time being, and switch between our Villages these coming years. We have prepared an apartment for the three of you. Kazuki, Isamu, you can go there now, a Chuunin will lead you. Ryu and Shikamaru, stay here for the briefing. Shikamaru, have you assembled the rest of the team?"

Shikamaru nodded, and soon after Isamu and Kazuki had disappeared, and a knock sounded on the door. Shikamaru looked up. "That would be my team."

* * *

The door opened to let Neji, Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten and Sakura in the office. All were dressed in normal clothes, and first looked strangely at the ANBU in the room, but waved as soon as they recognized her. Tsunade waved them over, motioned them to sit down and started the briefing. "Okay, you all have a long mission ahead of you. You will be guarding a wizarding school in England for three years, maybe a little longer. Shikamaru is the team leader, he will appoint his second hand. Alright, Shikamaru, you take over."

Shikamaru nodded and walked in front of them all. "Right. Now, I want to know who of you can speak English."

Neji, Hinata, Sakura and Ryu raised their hands.

"Who speaks it fluently?"

Only Ryu's hand remained in the air.

"Alright. Ryu will be our team speaker, and the second in command. As Tsunade-sama said, we will be guarding a school full of witches and wizards, and it also seems they're in the middle of some war. We're also to help with that. As preparation for the mission, all of you must be able to speak at least a little English, and we will study that school. Further information we will receive once we have arrived. Any objections?"

Nobody said anything.

"Good. We have one month. Assemble tomorrow at eight o'clock just outside the Hokage Tower. We will start then. And already start packing. Don't forget winter clothes and such, we will be there for three years." Shikamaru sighed. "Dismissed."

Everybody filled out of the office, followed as last by Shikamaru and Ryu. Ryu had put away her mask and taken off her cloak, revealing the ANBU tattoo on her upper arm, just like Shikamaru and all other ANBU had. She smiled at Shikamaru. "Long time no see, eh, Shika? I'm glad you remembered me for this mission."

Shikamaru smiled and put his arm around her waist, pulling her a bit closer. "You think I could ever forget you?"

Ryu grinned, and sighed as the two of them walked through Konoha. Several shinobi greeted her and Shikamaru as they went down to Ichiraku, ready to have a nice meal together and to catch up with each other.

* * *

A month had passed, and the entire team of eight had been studying, training, sparring and overall preparing for their mission. The most of them had been very skeptical about magic, but then Shikamaru had explained that it was just a thing like chakra, only not molded and used in an other way.

They were now assembled in front of the Hokage, all packed and everything ready. Tsunade sighed and pulled a wooden puppet from her desk. "Okay everybody. Touch this puppet, it will take you to your destination. Remember that you represent our Village, so do it proud."

All masked ANBU nodded and crowded together, touching the puppet. Tsunade sent a bit of her chakra to the puppet, and the thing started to glow. Ryu cursed. "Holy shit, what the

he-"

Tsunade snickered as the cursing was broken off by a blinding light, and all eight shinobi had disappeared from her office.

* * *

Language change

Dumbledore sighed deeply as he and Sirius waited for the guards to arrive. He had been thinking very hard after Harry had told him that Voldemort was back on how to protect the school, when he suddenly remembered his old friend Sarutobi. He had heard he was dead and that his student had taken over his job, but he thought to himself that shinobi would be the perfect guards for Hogwarts.

So he had send the letter. And the student had answered. Her name was Tsunade, and she had promised him an eight man team of the elite shinobi, if he could pay for that. He could, so he had agreed. And now, after almost two months since he had sent his letter, the team was to arrive. In the middle of the night, at Grimmauld Place. That was why Sirius was with him.

Suddenly a golden light appeared, and then with a bright flash eight people appeared.

* * *

Ryu blinked her eyes as they had ground back under their feet. The team had landed in a defensive position, not knowing who or what was out there. When she could see again, she spotted two people, two men, oddly dressed and looking surprised. One had a long beard and clear blue eyes, and the other had black hair, and looked a bit underfed. With a sigh she walked forwards, switching in her mind to English, speaking with only a little accent in her own laid back voice. "Good day, gentlemen. I assume that you are our client?"

The man with the beard smiled. "Yes. My name is Albus Dumbledore. I assume that you are the team leader?"

Ryu smirked under her mask, then shook her head. "No, I'm not. I am Dragon, the second in command. I speak for us all because my English is the best of us. Deer is the team leader."

Dumbledore nodded smiling. "So Dragon is your shinobi name? And your normal name?"

"I don't have any orders to tell you that." Her voice was clipped and cold. Dumbledore raised one eyebrow at the sudden change in her voice, while the other man could only gape at her. Ryu pointed at him. "And who is he? He didn't hire us."

"My name is Sirius Black." The man threw her a sharp glare. "This is my house, so I can be anywhere I want here."

Dumbledore interrupted Sirius before he could become angry. "I have permission from the Hokage to see your face and know your name."

That made Ryu only snort. "The Hokage can actually give no such orders to me, but for this time I will comply." She removed her mask, looking straight in Dumbledore's' eyes. "My name is Monotachi Ryu, Kirigakure ANBU-squad leader under the command of the Mizukage."

Dumbledore looked surprised at her face. "So young? How old are you, my child?"

Ryu scowled darkly. "I am not your child, client. I am seventeen, turning eighteen soon, sir. But I have been trained my whole life as a shinobi."

Sirius frowned. "So young and then as guards? I don't know, Albus."

"Are you doubting our training, our abilities?!" Ryu glared fiercely at the man. "Listen, asshole, I made my first true kill when I was eleven years old. We are trained for that. We are the elite of the elite. So shut your mouth or I may very well burn it closed!"

Sirius took a step back from the girl, and Shikamaru took one step forward grabbing her shoulder. "Excuse my subordinate." He took off his mask. "She doesn't like it to be underestimated." His accent was heavier then that of Ryu. "My name is Nara Shikamaru, the team leader of this mission and ANBU under the command of the Hokage. You can call me Deer."

Shikamaru quickly signed some orders, and the others stepped forward. Neji went first. "Hyuuga Neji. ANBU-squad leader under the command of the Hokage. Call me Hawk."

The others followed.

"Tenten. ANBU under the command of the Hokage. Call me Tiger."

"Hyuuga Hinata. ANBU under the command of the Hokage. Call me Mouse."

"Uzumaki Naruto. ANBU-squad leader under the command of the Hokage. Call me Toad."

"Uchiha Sasuke. ANBU under the command of the Hokage. Call me Raven."

"Haruno Sakura. Part-time ANBU and Medic-nin under the command of the Hokage. Call me Boar."

Dumbledore smiled at them all and nodded. "Very nice to meet you all. We will show you your rooms after your job description. You will be guarding the school Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards. We are fighting a war against an evil lord who has returned last year." He then proceeded to explain the Ministry and everything, about that they would have to watch out for some woman named Umbridge, also about the Order of the Phoenix, and that they might be asked to help out with them sometimes. "So it will be your job to ensure the safety of the students."

Ryu and Shikamaru nodded, and Ryu glanced at the others. "If you have one moment, Dumbledore-san, I will translate your story so the other will absolutely understand it."

In a few short sentences she explained what Dumbledore had told. The others nodded, and they all placed their masks back on. Ryu turned back to Dumbledore. "We are ready for the mission, Dumbledore-san. Do not worry, for it is our job to protect your students, and die for them if necessary as long as our mission continues."

The man nodded and smiled again, then turned to Sirius, who had been staring at Ryu and the others after she had said that they would die for the students. "Sirius, could you take them to their rooms?"

Sirius nodded and motioned for the masked people to follow him through the house. They walked through the hallway, finally stopping in front of four doors. Sirius waved at them. "These four rooms are for you. You will stay here for another two weeks, before you'll go to Hogwarts. Have a good night."

They bowed and quickly split up in four pairs of two, to the surprise of Sirius all without talking and with only a few shared glances. And a few seconds later the hallway was deserted, leaving him in his own thoughts.


	3. Chapter 2

Sirius sighed heavily as he woke up that morning. He remembered very clearly the new visitors in his house, the so called guards for Hogwarts.

Dumbledore had told him a little bit about shinobi: that they were very different than wizards, that they were really soldiers, that they worked in teams, could be hired for missions and that some of them, or most of them, could kill with ease. But he had never expected that they would be a bunch of kids. Although, you could hardly call them that. He remembered the girl who had spoken for them, her name was Ryo or Ryu or something? When Dumbledore had asked about her real name, she had suddenly closed up, and the cold undertone in her voice could make him shiver even now. And when he had doubted if a bunch of teenagers could be any good at guarding, the look she had send him then…

But he was most shocked by her statement that she had made her first kill at eleven years old. That they were trained killers. But in a way it was true. All stories he had heard about ninja were about their abilities as assassins, their abilities to enter somewhere without being noticed. They were trained to kill from young age, and they knew it. He shuddered lightly and dressed himself before going down to the kitchen. It was still early, so none of the other occupants of the house, the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, were awake. Sirius sighed heavily once again as he entered the kitchen, only to jump and bite back a scream as a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering if we could make our own breakfast." A female voice spoke behind him and Sirius spun around to see who it was. From the light accent he had concluded it was one of the guards, and as he had turned, he looked in the sharp blue-grey eyes of the girl he had been pondering over. She was wearing the same uniform she had worn that night and had her mask hanging on her hip. Sirius studied her for a few moment before he turned back. "Sure. I'll show you where everything is. If you want, you can use your own food or take some from the fridge over there. There are the bowls and stuff for cooking, over there are knives and forks and such. In that cabinet are glasses and cups. That's about it."

She nodded, and looked around once, before looking back at him. "Your name was Sirius Black, right?"

"Yep, but my friends mostly call me Padfoot." Sirius grinned a her. "Your name was Ryu, right? Monotachi Ryu?"

She smiled back a little bit. "Indeed it is. And you don't make the same mistake as many people do by thinking my last name is my first."

Sirius shrugged and went to make his breakfast. "I've had some Japanese friends. It was the same with them, so I thought it would also be like that by you guys. Monotachi sounds a bit weird as first name."

This time she grinned. "Yeah." Then she frowned. "You don't look very happy in here. And you were kind of spaced out when I came down. You seemed to be thinking about something serious, something that doesn't appeal you."

"How do you know that?!" The words had slipped from his mouth before he could do anything about it. Ryu smirked. "We learned how to read body language, Sirius-san. It is our job to know."

Sirius went into silence for a while, curiously watched by Ryu. Suddenly he burst out. "How can you do it?!"

"Do what?"

"Kill people without feeling something?!" Sirius waved his arms to make his point clear. "You know, Dumbledore told me a bit about shinobi. You kill when you're paid. How can you stand killing people, even if they are innocent?! Don't you get sick or something?!"

He stared at Ryu, and her eyes unfocused and became distant. Then she spoke in a detached voice. "You must understand one thing, Sirius-san. Our world is different than yours. There is almost always war going on, and border conflicts are nothing surprising. Shinobi go to a different Academy than civilians. From very young age, we are trained as shinobi. It is drilled in our minds that one day, we will have to kill. In self-defense or as a mission. We don't have a choice." She paused for a second. Sirius stared at her, but kept silent when she spoke again. "The first time is the worst time. When you actually kill, you don't have time to ponder over it. But afterwards, you feel sick. You throw up, have nightmares for weeks, and some can't live with themselves. Most shinobi therefore have to find a way to distract themselves. The most used way is a sort of split personality. During missions you become cold, emotionless, the perfect killer. And in normal life you can be yourself. In that way you can separate the pain and the remorse until you don't feel it anymore. We always regret, but we can't change it." Her eyes focused again and she looked at him, helplessly. "It's the only thing we know, the only thing we can. We have no choice."

Sirius stared at Ryu with wide eyes, unable to say anything. But she went on with a humorless smirk. "But you know, most of the time I find myself enjoying the rush. Fighting is always fun, the adrenaline, the clash with a worthy opponent. It's almost like a dance, but only with your life on the line. And in my battle mode I'm a bit… cruel. It's in the mentality of our village, we're always a bit harsher than the others. They fear us, but, you know, after a while, you enjoy it." She stared in his eyes with her piercing gaze. "I don't think you would like to see me, or any of us, in our battle mode. It can be an… unsettling experience. I am quite cruel, really."

Sirius leaned back in his chair, then smirked. "I think I can understand that. Well, for the rush then. I've been in battle a few times, and you get indeed a rush from it. I imagine that you come to enjoy it. Although I don't understand how you can become cruel…"

An evil smirk played on Ryu's lips. "You don't want to know, believe me."

Sirius started to laugh. "I like you! If you had been a witch, you would have been a perfect Marauder."

"Thank you, but I'm already taken. And what in Kami's name is a Marauder?" Ryu raised an eyebrow, and Sirius started explaining the entire story. Time passed as they told each other stories in the kitchen, eating breakfast and drinking tea. Suddenly Sirius blinked. "Where are the others, actually? You're rather early."

Ryu shrugged. "Still asleep. Shinobi learn to sleep whenever possible, for you may miss sleep the other day. I couldn't sleep though. Nightmare."

Sirius nodded. "I understand. Nasty little things, nightmares. Always come at the moments that you don't need them."

Ryu nodded, but then stiffened, her head cocked. Sirius raised one eyebrow, and she waved at him. "Someone is coming. More people. I'll be going now. It was great talking to you, maybe we can do it more often?"

Sirius smiled and nodded. Although he had had his doubts about the guards at first, he actually liked exchanging stories with this in most situations laid back shinobi. Then he too heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and voices talking. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were coming down. As he turned back to Ryu, she had already slipped on her mask, and was slowly retreating into the shadows. She waved at him and he could almost feel her grin under her mask, then she slipped completely in the shadows and he lost track of her. He silently shook his head. If the Death Eaters would have been able to do that, or they, then the war could have been ended years ago. His thoughts were cut short when Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny entered the kitchen, laughing and talking. Harry smiled at Sirius as they came in, but frowned at the distant expression his godfather wore. "Sirius? Are you alright?"

With a shock Sirius looked up, then smiled. "Yeah, I just had an interesting conversation a few minutes ago."

"With who?" Hermione looked curiously at him. "There is no one here."

Sirius grinned as he spotted a flash of a blue with white mask in the shadows behind them before it disappeared. "No. But there was someone here. A friend."

"Who was down here? Who is that friend?" Harry sounded very interested, and Sirius just smirked. "Just a friend. Not someone you know."

With that he turned around and put away the teacups and the plates, and left the kitchen.

Harry turned to the others with confused eyes. "Does anyone else find it strange what just happened?"

They looked at him with the same confusion, then shrugged. "We'll look at it some other time. Sirius will tell us, or else we'll interrogate him."

They left their thoughts about Sirius to concentrate on a more important thing. Breakfast.

* * *

Ryu snickered as she had entered her room. She shared it with Shikamaru, and he was still asleep, lying sprawled over his bed. He was snoring lightly, not caring about anything in the world. Ryu softly sneaked over next to him, and tapped on his head, causing him to open his eyes blearily. "_Hey Shika. I think it's about breakfast time now. Get out of bed, you lazy ass._"

Shikamaru stared at her for a moment, then unexpectedly grabbed her arm and pulled her on his bed with him, hugging her close to him and burying his face in her hair. "_Good morning to you too, Ryu-chan._"

She giggled, hugging him back. "_Yeah, yeah, Shika-kun. But you really should get out of bed you know._"

"_Where were you then, actually?_" Shikamaru looked up, and Ryu stretched. "_Went down to get some breakfast, and I met Sirius Black again. He is quite nice, actually._" She mused over it for some time. "_I also think he and Naruto are two of a kind. They both like pranking, maybe I should introduce them to each other?_"

Shikamaru sighed. "_Rather not. Naruto is enough of a pain in the ass without support. I think that we should better keep them as far away from each other as possible._"

Ryu sighed deeply as Shikamaru started to chuckle. After some time in which they dozed of again, Shikamaru decided to get dressed, and find something to eat. Before he left, he gave Ryu some orders to assemble everybody in their room, to discuss some rules for the time they would be staying in the house.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the guards had arrived at Grimmauld Place. Plans and rosters had been made for guarding Hogwarts, and Sirius had become friends with a few more shinobi. Although friends was maybe not the good term for that as shinobi had a hard time trusting someone right of the bat, but they were at least friendly with each other, and could have great conversations. Especially Naruto and Sirius had great times together, just like Ryu had thought. It was now evening, and they were ready to leave to Hogwarts. They would be leaving together with Dumbledore, and he would meet them in the hall.

* * *

Harry stood next to Ron and Hermione waiting for Dumbledore. Dumbledore would be leaving for Hogwarts that evening, and they had come to see him off. As they arrived in the hall, Dumbledore and Sirius were already waiting. Hermione frowned. "Why are you still here, professor, if you are already ready?"

Dumbledore smiled pleasantly with twinkling eyes. "I am waiting for a few people who will be coming with me to Hogwarts."

Before they could say anything else, he looked at the wall on their side with a smile. "I believe they are here."

And to the shock of Harry, Hermione and Ron, eight heavily cloaked people with their faces hidden in shadow seemed to emerge from the wall, walking towards Dumbledore and nodding at him as they stopped. They made no sound at all as they moved, and their moves were graceful and calculated, as if they could burst into motion any moment. Sirius smiled as one of them punched him lightly in the arm, and a few others waved or seemed to whispering something to him. His grin widened by one of the smaller persons, and he laughed as one of the taller spoke to him. Dumbledore made a Portkey, and after a last smile to the three students, he and the strange people disappeared with a flash.

Harry immediately strode forward to Sirius, who was still grinning over something that was said to him, and stopped in front of him. "Sirius, who were those people?"

"Hmm?" Sirius looked up and smiled. "Oh, they're some friends of mine, and they'll be helping the Order out for a couple of years. I think you'll see them again at Hogwarts or on the train."

"Yeah, whatever, but who were they?!" Ron took over the questioning, and Sirius snorted. "Sorry, but that's classified. And they would gut me if I ever told someone."

Hermione looked doubtful.

"I'm serious." Sirius ran his hands absentminded through his hair. "Well, I just hope she keeps her promise to keep tabs."

"Her? One of those people is a girl?!" Harry sounded incredulous. He just couldn't imagine a girl walking as deadly as those people had done. He realized that that was the only good term for it. Deadly.

"Of course!" Sirius snorted. "Why couldn't they be girls?"

Harry fidgeted. "Well, they seemed so… deadly. I just couldn't imagine a girl that deadly."

Sirius stared at him, then grinned. "Oh Harry, don't mind me, but I think that the girls with them are even more dangerous than the boys. Especially the one I was talking about. She can be quite… frightening, and even when half-dead she would be able to kill you, and able to do it without a second thought. They all can. Seriously, you don't want to cross them."

Harry gaped at how serious his godfather sounded. "And what is that girls' name then?"

"Dragon." Sirius looked away with a distant look. "You can call her Dragon."

* * *

Said Dragon looked with an open mouth up at Hogwarts, for once happy that she had to wear the mask that hid her face. She had managed to make no sound that would indicate that she was surprised, but Naruto wasn't as lucky.

"_Holy shit…_"

Ryu snorted. At least they had the point that they spoke not the same language as their client, but after she threw a glance at Dumbledore's face, she saw that despite the difference, he had gotten the message. His eyes twinkled with amusement, with made Ryu sigh. They were ANBU, for Kami's sake, so she decided to scold Naruto. But in a non-scold tone. "_Naruto, you baka. Keep your opinion silent. You are an ANBU_."

She could feel Naruto flush at her scolding, but Dumbledore didn't gave any indication that he had understood that she had scolded anyone. Shikamaru caught her gaze and signed silent at her in ANBU-sing language. /Nice work./

/Thank you./ Ryu turned back at Dumbledore as he walked towards the castle, and the shinobi followed silently in his footsteps.

* * *

As they reached the door, they swung open, revealing an older woman with a sour look. "Albus! Finally, I thought you would never-" Minerva McGonagall cut herself off when she noticed the eight people standing behind Dumbledore, standing in some sort formation that reminded her strangely of soldiers that were ready to defend or attack at moments notice. She studied them as the light from the hall pooled around them, and suddenly one of them looked up and the light hit the face. He, or she for that matter, wore a mask. Minerva's first reaction was instinctive. She reeled back and drew her wand. "Death Eaters!"

When she drew her wand, the person that had looked up vanished, and a second later her wand had disappeared and she was held in a headlock, a knife against her throat. The other persons had also moved, in a more attack like formation. Dumbledore looked startled, then moved quickly. "Minerva, don't move. Tiger, she is no threat, please release her. All of you, stand down."

Minerva looked startled as all the persons froze, not moving an inch, and the person who held her slowly let go. Dumbledore briskly walked forward and looked her in the eyes. "Minerva, are you okay?"

"Who- who are they, Albus?!"

The person who had caught her turned his/her head around to stare at her. Minerva studied the person. The mask was white, with red lines vaguely giving it the shape of a tiger. The person suddenly stuck out his/her hand. A wand was lying in it.

"I believe this is yours." It was a female voice, with a heavy accent. Without a word, Minerva took back her wand, and the woman walked back to her companions. They seemed to converse with each other, then stayed silent. Albus smiled at her, and motioned at the people behind him, cloaked and masked. "These, Minerva, are the schools' protectors. The shinobi that will help us. Meet Deer, Dragon, Hawk, Mouse, Toad, Boar, Raven and Tiger."


	4. Chapter 3

Ryu was scowling at the wall. She had been tricked, and she didn't like it at all, in fact, she hated it. Shikamaru sighed as he turned his head to her. "_Ryu-chan, would you please stop scowling?_"

"_Why should I?! You tricked me, you- you- argh!_" Ryu threw her hands up and Shikamaru grinned, then walked over to her, sat down and pulled her in his lap. "_Aw, Ryu-chan, it isn't that bad. You can humiliate them. Maybe even a little torture?_"

She snuggled close to him and closed her eyes. "_That's true, that's true… And it isn't as if we can change it now._"

Shikamaru nodded and they both fell silent, enjoying the company.

* * *

~Flashback~

They were all sitting around the room they were provided with. It was a large common room, with two large rooms, one for the boys, the other for the girls. Strange ugly creatures called house-elves provided them with food and drinks. Shikamaru just came back from a last meeting with Dumbledore, and he was now telling them what had happened.

"…_and he also asked for one of us as a assistant for the Defense against the Dark Arts lessons_."

"_Nani?!_"

All the shinobi cried out at the same time. Neji glared at Shikamaru. "_Why should we have to teach those little brats?!_"

"_Because then we can keep a close eye on that Umbridge woman. And you only have to teach the Fifth years and the Seventh years._" Shikamaru sighed deeply. "_It isn't my idea of fun, but we'll have to do it. The one to do it has to have a little experience in teaching. Which one of you has ever taught in the Academy?_"

The room was silent until slowly Ryu lifted her hand. "_I've had a mission once, we had to teach the Academy for two months, their teacher was sick._"

"_Good! That's decided._" Shikamaru sighed happily and laid back. "_That's all._"

Everybody snickered at the face of Ryu, who was doing a great impression of a fish. She then glared at everybody, and started scowling at the wall while Shikamaru went off to Dumbledore to tell him who would do the job.

~End flashback~

* * *

Time passed, and soon it was time for the Weasly children and Harry to head back to Hogwarts. They all went towards the train station after they said their goodbyes to Sirius, who had been strangely happy for the passed time. As they boarded the Hogwarts Express, they found an empty compartment and immediately settled down. Harry was frowning. "I still don't know who Sirius' friend is. He doesn't want to tell anyone."

Ron sighed. "I know mate, I don't understand how he managed to keep it in. But the better thing is that he isn't as angry to be left inside anymore."

"Yeah, that's true." Ginny piped up. She frowned in confusion. "I heard him talk to someone over the Floo I believe, he at least was talking to someone. He was laughing and making the other person promise to visit him soon. It sounded like a young man."

Hermione looked at them al, then sighed deeply. "We will find out in time, guys. Just have some patience."

Ron and Harry grumbled, then sat in silence. The trip was quiet, until the door slid open to reveal Draco Malfoy and his lackeys. Malfoy sneered. "Not so tough now, are you, Potter? You will see that you made the wrong decision the day you decided to throw away my hand in friendship."

Harry growled. "Get out of my sight, Malfoy."

"Ooh, a bit angry, are you? Well, you'll end up just like that idiot Diggory, as dead as a stone." Malfoy sneered even more as Harry jumped up, followed by Ginny, Hermione and Ron. All of them had their wands out, a motion that was followed by Malfoy and friends. Just as they were about to shoot spells at each other, a cold voice stopped them dead in their tracks.

"No fighting on the train. Lower your wands. Now." The words were harsh and spoken with a strange sounding, heavy accent. A male. All the students backed off and put their wands away as a single, heavily cloaked person emerged from the shadows. They could see a strange white mask with red lines under the hood. A mask that vaguely resembled a raven.

Harry gulped. It was one of the guards, one of the people Sirius had told them not to cross. The masked person looked at them all, gazing over them with a chilling look. "You are warned."

He backed off, and merged once again in the shadows. Malfoy and his goons quickly disappeared, and Harry and friends sat back in their compartment. Hermione and Ginny were shaking, and all the others also looked quite disturbed. Ron swallowed. "Bloody hell! No wonder Sirius told us to stay away from them!"

"Yeah, that one was more frightening than a Dementor!" Ginny shivered. "I never heard or saw him coming."

Harry nodded gravely. "I think we have to keep a good eye out."

The others agreed with him and they went on with their own business.

* * *

Harry and the others were silent as soon as they stepped into the Great Hall. On both sides of the head table stood a masked person, and in one of the chairs at the table, the one next to a woman that looked like a toad, sat another one. That person was more visible than the others, as she wore no cloak. It was a woman with long brown, a bit shaggy, hair and a mask that resembled some sort of serpent with blue lines instead of red as the others. Her clothes were black with some sort of armor on her rump and lower arms for as far they could see. She seemed to be studying everybody who came into the Hall, and Harry shivered as her eyes passed over him. Everybody took his or her seat, and the feast started. Halfway through, Hermione let out an irritated sigh. "I can't even see that woman eat!"

"Huh?" Ron and Harry reacted at the same time. Ginny rolled her eyes and pointed at the masked woman. "What Hermione means, that we haven't seen her lift her mask once during the entire feast. Doesn't she eat?"

"She eats." Hermione nodded. "I've seen her take some food, and it disappeared from her plate."

"Oookay…" Harry scratched his head. "Well, I guess that Professor Dumbledore will introduce her some time. She is sitting at the teachers table, after all."

Hermione sighed, then started eating again.

* * *

It was the end of the dinner, and Dumbledore stood up, smiling. "Welcome back, students, for another year at Hogwarts. As you might have noticed, we have some special guards to protect the school. One of them will also be co-teaching Defense against the Dark Arts to the Fifth and Seventh years, together with Professor Umbridge. Please give a warm applause to Dragon."

Harry, Hermione and Ron gasped at the name, as the woman stood up and made a small bow to the Hall as they applauded politely for her. Dumbledore smiled at her with twinkling eyes, but she threw him one glance and he immediately adverted his vision, once again looking at the students. He smiled again. "As Lord Voldemort has once again risen, we must work together, and be able to trust each other. I know that you are more than capable of working all together and I-"

"Hem hem."

Dumbledore looked in surprise at the toad like woman next to Dragon. He tried to continue with his speech, but the woman interrupted again. "Hem hem."

The students started talking with each other, and Dumbledore sat down, surprised. The woman stood up, looking over the heads of the students. "Hem hem. Thank you for your kind words, Professor. Well, children, my name is Dolores Umbridge, and I am your new Defense of the Dark Arts teacher, one that is authorized by the Ministry. Now, I have-"

This time Umbridge was cut of by a low growl from the woman next to her. Her voice was a low drawl, with a strange accent to it. "Never heard of manners, woman? Dumbledore was still speaking, so you shut your mouth. You don't have any permission to speak. Sit down, and keep quiet."

Now the entire hall was quiet. Umbridge turned red, then white, then sat down with a thud. Dragon looked at her for a while, then nodded at Dumbledore. "If you would continue, sir, the attention is all yours now."

Dumbledore smiled a sparkling smile at her, then stood up. The other teachers also looked a bit like a mix of contend and shocked, but settled for smugness as Dumbledore spoke again. "Well, that was interesting. I think you all have heard enough speeches for now, so hop hop, off to bed!"

He clapped in his hands and slowly the students started to fill out of the Great Hall, whispering under each other about the two new teachers, and what had happened.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he looked at Ryu, who had a satisfied grin on her face. "_Did you see her face, Shika-kun? I just couldn't resist!_"

"_Yeah, yeah._" Shikamaru rubbed his head. "_You do know you just royally pissed her off, don't you?_"

"_I know._" Ryu smirked. "_But she can't do anything about it. The Fifth-years have two hours of DADA a week, the same with the Seventh years. She gives one lesson, I give one lesson, we can't interfere with each other, but we do have to be present for both the lessons. I can piss her off as much as I want. She holds no power over me. Not now, not ever._"

Shikamaru smirked and pulled Ryu close. The were sitting in one of the large chairs that were place in front of the fire in the common room. All the shinobi except three of them were all scattered around the room. The three that were absent were on patrol duty. Ryu tucked her head under Shikamaru's chin, sighing happily and curling herself around him. Shikamaru responded by wrapping his arm even tighter around her. Naruto, who was sitting close to them reading a scroll, looked up and grinned. "_You know, I have trouble seeing where Ryu ends and Shikamaru starts. If Ero-sennin were here, I'm sure he would get plenty of inspiration from the two of you._"

Ryu didn't respond, but Shikamaru threw such a dirty glare at Naruto, that he flinched and started mumbling under his breath. "_You've been practicing Ryu's glare…_"

Shikamaru smirked. "_I heard that, Naruto._"

Naruto swore, burying his head once again in his scroll. Sasuke and Hinata, who were both also sitting in the room, both respectively snickered and giggled because of Naruto, then silence fell once again over the room. After a while Ryu shifted. "_Hey guys?_"

"_Hm?_" Was the overall response.

"_I have not a single clue what I should teach those kids._"

"_Oh._"

"_Yeah, oh._"

Naruto frowned. "You _can't teach them anything about chakra or our jutsu's._"

"_Yeah._"

"_What about physical training?_" Hinata spoke from her couch.

"_Physical training?_"

"_Yeah, you know, dodging and stuff._"

"_Oooh. Well, that's an idea._"

Sasuke looked up from whatever he was doing. "_You could make them run around the castle._"

Ryu's eyes started glinting dangerously. "_It starts to sound even better. Oh yes, I can definitely do something with that. Those wizards are way too slow and lazy. I will do something about that._"

Shikamaru stared at Hinata and Sasuke with an accusing glare. "_See what you have done?! Now she is in her torture-students-mode again!_" He threw his arms protectively around her. "_I will protect you from those evil thoughts, Ryu-chan!_"

Ryu giggled and snuggled back into Shikamaru. "_Oh, don't worry Shika. I've already got some ideas, and I've got even more time to think about it during that woman's lessons. Yes, this is going to be fun…_"

With a last evil giggle, she and the rest of the shinobi once again fell in silence.

* * *

Ryu looked carefully over all students. It was breakfast time, and most of the Great Hall was filled with soft chatter from the students. Several times they threw cautious glances to her. Ryu smirked under her mask. Nothing was better than scaring little kids. Of course, the fact that those kids were only a few years younger than her didn't matter.

"Hem hem."

Slowly, Ryu turned her head to face Umbridge, who flinched under the gaze of the seemingly black eyeholes. "What?"

"Today are the first lessons. I will teach today, you teach the other lesson." Umbridge tried to sound brave, but utterly failed at it.

"I know that, gama-onna. I will be on time." Ryu scowled at Umbridge under her mask, satisfied with the puzzled expression because of the name she called Umbridge. The woman shifted, then stood up. "Well then…" She wandered off. Ryu chuckled darkly. Oh, how she despised that toad-like woman, even after only meeting a few times. She was pompous, stuck-up, and a suck-up and loved using her power over the powerless. Ryu's head snapped up as a voice spoke in the radio-transmitter in her ear. "_Dragon! Keep focused. You can scare her some other time._"

Ryu grumbled, then nodded curtly, so Shikamaru, who was hiding in the shadows, could see her reaction. Not too long after that, breakfast ended and the students scurried off to their first lesson. A devilish smirk found it's way to a masked face. 'It is time to have some fun…'

* * *

Harry, Hermione and Ron quickly entered the DADA classroom. It was mostly decorated with pictures of kittens and the large desk in front as also decorated with pink things. Umbridge was already sitting behind it, with a large smile on her toad-like face.

In a dark corner was another desk, one that drew more attention. It was dark, with a few closed off boxes on it and a few smudged books and scrolls. Behind it sat Dragon, with her feet propped up on the table and with a scroll in her hand, which she was obviously reading. She sat entirely still, not moving a muscle except for the occasionally twitch when she rolled the scroll further to read the contents. Hermione nodded towards her, and softly spoke with Ron and Harry as the class filled up with people from various houses. "See that? She looks just like some statue, sitting so still."

Immediately after those words, Dragon lifted her head and stared straight at Hermione, who stifled a gasp. After a few moments they got the impression the person smirked behind her mask, and then Dragon looked back at her scroll.

"She heard me!" Hermione was shocked.

"Nah, that can't be." Ron tried to be reassuring, but it didn't help much. After some more time in which Hermione was freaking out, the doors closed and Umbridge stood up. "Now, all of you, children, welcome at the Defense against the Dark Arts class. I am Professor Umbridge, and I will be teaching every first lesson of the week. You will be reading from your book. The second lesson will be taught-"

"by me."

Umbridge looked cross at first for being interrupted, but soon sat down as Dragon placed her scroll on the desk and walked in front of the class. They got their first good look of her. She was wearing some sort of sleeveless uniform with light armor, arm guards and leg guards. Her long hair was pulled in a high ponytail and she wore some sort of long black gloves. On her left upper arm was a strange tattoo. Dragon peered around the room, quieting it at once. "As an opposite of Umbridge here, I will be teaching you the more… physical… ways of defending yourself against dark arts. I expect nothing but devotion for my lessons and respect for my person, or you will face severe punishment. I do not take being insulted lightly. I never warn twice after an offence. You are warned." She stalked back to her desk in the corner, picking up her scroll and ignoring the rest of the lesson.


End file.
